Betrayal in Naples (EE) - Softcover

Griffiths, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141019026 ISBN 13: 9780141019024

Publisher: Penguin, 2004

Synopsis

It may be the Neopolitan way, but I am not a Neopolitan. And something tells me I have made a very big mistake. . .

When Jim Wolf arrives in Naples for a weekend break, he has no idea what to expect. Slowly he becomes seduced by the city and its people. When he meets Lousia, an ex-girlfriend from London, she introduces him to a world of shadows and organized crime, secret codes and unwritten rules that he can not imagine. At any stage Jim's ordinary holiday threatens to take a thrilling but dangerous turn for the worst.

After a series of unexpected twists, Jim finds himself in a situation that he does not understand, playing a high-stakes game in which he could lose everything. Betrayal - of a lover, of friends, of oaths and of oneself - are just part of the way of life that he must learn or die.

About this title

Review:

Neil Griffiths' first novel, Betrayal in Naples has the unsettling disjointed feel of the fever that hits Jim as he arrives in Naples for a weekend break--he is out of his normal place and nothing feels quite real. What follows is a sequence of accidents so arbitrary that they feel like fate.

A taxi driver delivers him to a pensione from which, when his fever breaks, he wanders into the street and meets the lost love of his life. Louisa turns out to be married to a judge who is trying a Camorra family; Jim wanders into his court and meets Giovanna, an unhappy daughter of criminals dissatisfied with her career prospects. Then again, everything that happens to Jim happens because of who he is--a burned-out romantic over-burdened with the desire to help people, to make a difference--and because of where he is--a city old in crime and cynicism and jealousy.

Griffiths writes powerfully about the fact that everything has consequences--his Naples is a mental territory as much as a set of streets, dazzling sunlight and ferociously hot pizza. He also writes well about character--the doomed Jim is a fascinating flawed hero whom we come to know well as his clock ticks down. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

'An atmospheric and claustrophobic tale...part thriller, part literary musing and part love story.' -- List

'An edgy romance and an excellent study in paranoia' -- Daily Telegraph

'Edge-of-seat stuff...as thrilling as it is erotic' -- Star

'Sharply written, finely paced. A gripping, visceral and pandemonious novel.' -- The Spectator

'Shocking and compelling' -- Big Issue

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0141019026
• ISBN 13: 9780141019024
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352